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Original poster

Absolutely Unputdownable Books

259 replies

spacemonkey · 27/02/2004 18:54

Just interested to know what books mumsnetters found absolutely impossible to put down ...

Here are some of mine:

  • Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
  • anything by Jane Austen
  • Villette - Charlotte Bronte
  • Diary of a Nobody - George & Weedon Grossmith
  • If This Is A Man - Primo Levi
  • His Dark Materials Trilogy - Philip Pullman
  • The Wrong Boy - Willy Russell
  • Moab is my Washpot - Stephen Fry
  • Things Can Only Get Better - John O'Farrell
  • The Consolations of Philosophy - Alain de Botton

and (ahem) all the Harry Potters

What are yours?

OP posts:
Marina · 28/02/2004 23:13

OldieMum, I got it for Christmas from dh. Fascinating to see how many of her novels (Eight Months in Ghazzah Street, another fave; that one about the girls' hall of residence) are obviously deeply autobiographical. I just read her on St Therese of Lisieux this afternoon in the LRB, actually. She is in my category of scarily good - love her writing, wouldn't like to meet her!
Hoxtonchick, RD came over and did a reading at the ICA about 12 years ago. As befits a sometime act-or who worked with Tyrone Guthrie he was very stagey but loveable and had us all enthralled. His other novels are almost as good (especially the Cornish Trilogy) but for me the Saltertons are best.

Chinchilla · 29/02/2004 14:09

Thanks Oldiemum. Interesting what you say about her getting into a man's head. I wonder whether a man would agree!

OldieMum · 29/02/2004 21:12

Another unputdownable is Margaret Forster, especially 'Shadowbaby', both because it's a fine novel but also because it echoes some events in my own family's history. A lot of her work tries to uncover how women's lives have changed over the last few generations, sometimes through fiction, sometimes through non-fiction. Forster's work is straight-faced, but Kate Atkinson covers some of the same territory with a kind of tragicomic approach. I thought both 'Behind the Scenes at the Museum' and 'Human Croquet' were in the unputdownable category.

AussieSim · 01/03/2004 12:32

I am a huge Margaret Atwood and Carol Shields fan. I am currently reading CS's the Republic of Love and really enjoying it, but her best is definitely The Stone Diaries and Unless was also really good.

I couldn't get into Oryx and Crake by Atwood, but I loved: The Blind Assasin, The Robber Bride, The Handmaids Tale, The Edible Woman. Both of these Authors write really real strong female characters.

bundle · 01/03/2004 12:44

anyone read any Jane Gardam? got Queen of the Tambourine for Christmas & LOVED it!

hoxtonchick · 01/03/2004 13:01

I really like Jane Gardam, bundle. Recently read Faith Fox which I thought was great, & have previously really enjoyed Bilgewater and A Long Way from Verona.

bundle · 01/03/2004 13:03

fab - written them down in my diary for next visit to library (economy drive )

Rae1973 · 01/03/2004 13:19

One I am reading at the minute is

Scalpel by Paul Carson.

Its a thriller and very very good, I can't put a list of all the fab books I've read, I borrow from the library and also collect books and have hundreds.

I do find though that any books by

Danuta Reah
Harlan Coben
Sidney Sheldon
James Herbert
Stephen King
Lee Child
Faye Kellerman
Jonathon Kellerman
John Grisham
Shaun Hutson
Richard Laymon
Henri Charriere

Are all very good books, this isn't even touched the iceberg of books I've read

LucyJones · 01/03/2004 18:26

Have just finished Cecilia Aherne's PS, I Love You which was definitely unputdownable - I read it in about 2 days! She's Bertie Aherne's daughter...

expatkat · 01/03/2004 18:39

Agree with so much that's been listed already.

Marina & Hoxtonchick: another Davies fan here. He was quite popular in American in the 80's & early 90's, and has a lot of fans here (in the US), though he's not so much talked about since his death. I've read the two later triologies, but not the Salterton one.

For fans of The Woman In White. . .I've heard from some that The Moonstone is even better.

Other books (not yet mentioned) I couldn't put down:
Middlemarch by George Eliot
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
The Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

I was happy to see Jeffrey Eugenides on the list. He's a friend & would be chuffed.

Binkie, I'm sorry I found Calvino's If On A Winter's Night big bore. But then I read it when I was about 18--maybe I wasn't ready?

tamum · 01/03/2004 18:43

Hoxtonchick, are you me? Many parts of your posts on here could have been written by me! I'm also a big Robertson Davies, Jane Gardam, David Lodge fan, liked Nancy Mitford when I was younger, and just lurve Barbara Trapido. Have to say, though, that Frankie and Stankie was eminently putdownable, to the extent that I have given up on it. Such a shame because her other books were wonderful. Started the Little Friend and didn't get past the first few pages althugh I loved A Secret History. I will go back to it though, honest

tamum · 01/03/2004 18:45

Oooh yes, expatkat, The Moonstone is fab. There's another obscure book by him called "No Name" that is good, but not as good as WinW and Moonstone.

lilibet · 01/03/2004 18:53

Got it thanks Spaccemonkey, have you read Wozza Shakespeare, which is written by him and his partner about Titus Andronicus in South Africa, if you haven't and you wnat to read it let me know and I'll post it to you.

I loved Perfume too. The writing is really rich.

Someone tell me about Quincunx?

lilibet · 01/03/2004 18:55

Wilkie Collins also wrote a book called Basil, which is worht a read but not as good as Woman in White, which does have to be the most unputdownable book ever.

prufrock · 01/03/2004 19:54

The Quincunx by Charles Paliser - it's a huge book about an inheritance, and all the mysteries of the families who might profit from it, written in the style of the great Victorian novels. SO you get the mystery, with lots and lots of twists and turns, some Dickensian social bits, and a humdinger of a twist at the end. Buy it, put aside a week and you will get completely engrossed - especially if you are a Wilkie Collins fan.

suzywong · 01/03/2004 19:56

I'm really looking forward to getting in to that one, hadn't heard of it before

Posey · 01/03/2004 20:04

AussieSim - same here. I'm a huge Margaret Atwood fan, but really didn't get on with Oryx and Crake. Borrowed it from the library which was just as well as I will spend out on hardbacks when a new book by an author I like comes out.

hoxtonchick · 01/03/2004 20:40

Tamum, i'm scared !! Totally agree about Frankie & Stankie - nowhere near as good as her previous ones. I think The Travelling Hornplayer is my favourite. I've remembered some others - Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe & Brightness Falls by Jay McInerney & The Way I Found Her by Rose Tremain.

OldieMum · 01/03/2004 20:47

Hotxtonchick - have you read Rose Tremain's 'Music and Silence'? I enjoyed it very much.

hoxtonchick · 01/03/2004 20:53

Yes I have, Oldiemum, and Restoration. Liked them both. I agree with lots of your choices too .

ks · 01/03/2004 20:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster
spacemonkey · 01/03/2004 21:04

I'm just waiting for The Quincunx to be delivered, so should be starting it in the next day or two. Really looking forward to it!

Do try His Dark Materials - it is sooo good.

OP posts:
Bron · 01/03/2004 21:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Paula71 · 01/03/2004 21:29

Jostein Gaarder's Through A Glass Darkly. Very atmospheric, I have read it a few times and always have tears in my eyes after the last few pages.

hoxtonchick · 01/03/2004 23:27

bundle, I think I might work near you (KF on Cavendish Square) - if so, you're welcome to borrow my Jane Gardam books.